Otters and Other Animals at Sungei Buloh on 2 Sep 2011

It's been a long while since I had a good walk at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, and hence I decided to pay it a visit with Peiting last Saturday.


We decided to head to the main bridge first, and I was glad we made this decision as a pair of Smooth Otters (Lutrogale perspicillata) in the river! The tide was rather low, and hence the otters had no problem catching the fish that they love to eat.


After the meal, they headed back to shore.


One of them got onto the river bank and started rolling on the black sand, probably to dry itself.


The other soon it, and both otters spent about 5 min rolling before they moved up the river bank.


They rested for a while by the freshwater pond, before heading back into the river.


There were several Plantain Squirrels (Callosciurus notatus) among the trees, and this one was feeding on a Sea Almond (Terminalia catappa) fruit.


We saw a lot of jumping fish in the disused prawn ponds. Still not exactly sure why they were doing that - but I would think it's not likely to be due to predators in the water, as these fish were quite huge.


We only saw a few migratory birds - suspect they have properly flown out of the reserve to nearby mudflats since the tide was low. Managed to catch a shot of these Little Egrets (Egretta garzetta) in flight though.


Peiting was commenting that she hadn't seen the Oriental Pied-hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) at Sungei Buloh, and not too long later, we saw a pair of them on a figging Ficus superba!


They were feeding on the figs, but did not appear to be too successful as this male one kept dropping the figs it was handling.


At the river, we also saw this Stork-billed Kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) catching a fish!

Just as we were leaving the reserve, we encountered two fighting Malayan Water Monitors (Varanus salvator). The one on the right (back-facing) eventually lost and ran away. But what a fight they had! Lots of twisting, grabbing, wrestling, splashing, clawing... as a smaller female watched nearby...

Sungei Buloh Over Several Days in Apr 2011

We had to conduct a series of mangrove workshops last week, and hence I was at Sungei Buloh most of the time. The most exciting thing we saw was probably the black spitting cobra, which unfortunately I didn't take any photo. But apart from that, there were plenty of other sightings too!


Here's a bronzeback we saw near the freshwater pond. Caused quite a bit of commotion when it started slithering towards Wai Kit, then Tammy!


We had 2 sightings of the paradise tree snake. This one was right on the nipah palm along the mangrove boardwalk.


And there was this shore pit-viper which was among some sea holly near the first shelter of the mangrove boardwalk for a few days.


We saw quite a few fights between Malayan water monitors at the pond near the Visitor Centre. Somehow I thought they looked like they were dancing tango...


We saw quite a few green crested lizard too. This one was near the mangrove fern at the visitor centre.


Indeed, right around the Visitor Centre there were plenty to see, including the fruit bat hanging off the roof.


The smooth otters visited the freshwater pond almost everyday when we were there.


It's already early April, but many waders were still around! There was this huge flock of whimbrels that were always feeding near the main hide.


Are these greenshanks? Not too good with wader identification.


As usual, there were quite a few yellow-vented bulbuls in the reserve.


A pair had built a nest among the mangrove fern at the Visitor Centre, and there were 2 chicks inside! But one afternoon, they were suddenly gone! Heard from the NParks staff that they had seen snakes and rats trying to reach the nest, but were all chased away by the parent birds. Not sure if they were eaten or were strong enough to fly away.


On the next day, I found a pair of fledglings near the toilet area. Wonder if they were the same ones from the nest at the Visitor Centre, or from another nest. Did not see them previously though, so it's possible that they were the same pair.


My first time getting a photo of a male copper-throated sunbird, although it was somewhat out of focus... :P


Here's a female.


There were quite a few populations of jewel bugs among the mangrove trees.


The variable wisp is a rather common damselfly in Singapore. The above is a female.


And here's an immature male variable wisp.


On one of the mornings, I noticed that the mangrove trumpet tree is flowering! The flowers usually fall off by late morning.


I managed to find time to check out the naturally occurring tumu putih


One of the orchids planted by NParks was also flowering. According to WF, it should be a Cymbidium bicolor.

Guess there are always plenty of things to see at Sungei Buloh! :)

Aegiceras corniculatum at Kranji Mangrove

Last weekend when I visited the mangrove forest along Kranji Nature Trail, I found 2 young Kacang-kacang (Aegiceras corniculatum). As the main objective for the day was to hit the back mangrove, I did not spend time to look around for the mature plants.

However, since this plant has not been recorded recently at Kranji, I decided to go back again today to show HP from NParks the location of the plants. And of course, at the same time, we will be looking for mature plants!

I spotted a young kacang-kacang soon after we entered the mangrove, and commented to HP that there should be a mature plant some where, since there were quite a few young plants. And indeed, just a while later, HP's keen eyes spotted a mature Kacang-kacang!


And it was flowering!


The were a few fruits too!


The plant was rather short though, probably about a metre tall. HP commented that this plant didn't quite look very big, and she suspected that there should be a bigger plant.


True enough, as we searched on, I finally found a much taller kacang-kacang (probably more than 2m tall) just as we were about to leave the mangrove forest! It was flowering too. Today, we saw a total of 2 mature plants and 4 young plants. Really glad that now I do not have to go offshore to see this rare mangrove plant! :)

Other interesting stuff I saw over the two trips include:


The very tall Berus Mata Buaya (Bruguiera hainesii) that's internationally critically endangered.


There were lots of Mangrove Lime (Merope angulata) here, and I saw a patch with at least 10 of them. This plant is critically endangered in Singapore.


I also spotted a Barat-barat (Cassine viburnifolia) - yet another critically endangered plant in Singapore.


I also found this tide pool with several Mangrove Leaf Slugs (Elysia bangtawaensis). They looked just like pieces of fallen leaves until you took a closer look :)

Kranji Mangrove is actually a rather pristine mangrove, since it was not cleared for prawn farming like Sungei Buloh. Hopefully the NParks contractors would minimise the damage done to this beautiful mangrove forest when they build the boardwalk and other amenities under the Sungei Buloh Master Plan.

And guess I will be back soon to check out the kacang-kacang again! :)

Nature Explorers Guided Walks at Sungei Buloh

We have conducted several guided walks at Sungei Buloh for students under the Nature Explorers Programme over the past one week, and here's a quick look at some of the interesting things that I managed to take photos of.


On one of the days, we saw 3 Smooth Otters (Lutrogale perspicillata) at the freshwater pond near the visitor centre! The above photo shows 2 of them.


We only saw the Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) on the same day, and even this sighing was pure luck, as it appeared for less than 5 minutes! I was telling the students about the prawn ponds when this crocodile appeared, got swept under the sluice gates, tail-first, by the water flowing out with the receding tide into Sungei Buloh Besar! The confused crocodile stayed near the water surface before it swam towards the mouth of the river and disappeared.


On another trip, we saw a Shore Pit-viper (Trimeresurus purpureomaculatus) on an Api-api Bulu (Avicennia rumphiana) right next to the mangrove boardwalk!


There was an Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis) nest right next to the bridge over the freshwater pond at the visitor centre. There was even a little chick inside!


And not too far away was the nest of a Yellow vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier).


Outside the theatrette, we found an abandoned nest with an egg inside. It looked like the nest of a Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius). The nest was on a small plant right next to the walkway leading to the threatrette. Could the many people walking in and out of the theatrette caused the parents to abandon the nest?


AT the mangrove boardwalk, we saw quite a few Ashy Tailorbirds (Orthotomus ruficeps).


By the water's edge, there was this Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) shaking its tail up and down as it foraged for worms and other little animals.


This Green-crested Lizard (Bronchocela cristatella)was really tiny - about the size of the usual house gecko! It had a really long tail though.


One some of the days where there was sunshine, Common Sun Skinks (Mabuya multifasciata) could be seen basking in the sun.


It appeared to be the season for Golden Orb Web Spiders (Nephila pilipes), and we saw many of them. It is interesting to note that there are times when we could hardly find any of these spiders, or only see small ones.


As usual, there were lots of Lined Nerites (Nerita articulata) near the base of the mangrove trees. These mangrove snails feed on algae.


Once in a while, we would see an Onchidiid Slug (Family Onchidiidae) high up on a branch of a mangrove tree. They feed on algae too.


Not too forget the plants, I spotted a Tengar (Ceriops tagal) with a mature seedling!


I also checked out the young Mangrove Lime (Merope angulata) I spotted last time. It was growing right next to a young Sea Holly (Acanthus sp.), and appeared to be doing well. Glad to see more of this locally critically endangered plant coming back to Sungei Buloh! :)